3 October 2014
Literature and Film at the Conrad Festival

This year’s edition of the Conrad Festival – the biggest literary event in Central and Eastern Europe – will also take place at the cinema. Between 20 and 26 October, at the Pod Baranami Cinema, three film cycles will be screened: Kafka on the Screen, The Children’s Literary Lambs and a cycle of Paul Auster’s films, presented personally by the author. Join us for Film and Literature at the Conrad Festival.

During the film part of the Festival we will see the literature entering the cinema. We will answer the following questions: how a writer of world renown becomes a director, what it is like to watch Kafka on the big screen and how to familiarize the young audience with classical children’s literature adapted to the screen.

A significant event will be arrival of Paul Auster in Krakow. He is one of the most outstanding American writers, the author of the legendary The New York Trilogy, a scriptwriter, director, philosopher and poet. Paul Auster himself will make an introduction to two screenings of his films: Smoke (20 October) and Blue in the Face (21 October). Two more films directed by Auster will be shown during the Festival: Lulu on the Bridge (22 October) and The Inner Life of Martin Frost (23 October).

Within the cycle Kafka on the Screen theaudience will see a film adaptation of Das Schloss (The Castle) (24 October) directed by Michael Haneke and short films by Jan Švankmajer (Byt, Zahrada) – the director who inspired, among others, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam and the Quay brothers (25 October). There will also be films by Polish filmmakers: Zbigniew Rybczyński, an Academy Award winner(Franz Kafka) and Piotr Dumała, one of the most distinguished authors of animated films in the world (Kafka). The Children’s Literary Lambs offer great films for the young audience: King Matt the First (25 October) and The Adventures of Koziołek Matołek (26 October). After the screenings children can participate in literary workshops with Sztukolotnia and artistic classes.

All films will be shown with Polish subtitles.

Das Schloss will be shown with Polish and English subtitles.

TICKETS: (available at the Pod Baranami Cinema) 12 PLN (regular ticket) 10 PLN (student ticket) Festival pass (6 screenings at 21.30): 48 PLNThe Children’s Literary Lambs - 10 PLN
A co-organizer of Literature and Film is the Pod Baranami Cinema and a partner of the project is the Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw.
The Conrad Festival is the biggest literary event in Poland. The 6th edition of the Festival entitled Shared Worlds will begin on 20 October and will last for seven days. The Festival is a joint project of the City ofKrakow, Krakow Festival Office and the Tygodnik Powszechny Foundation. A detailed programme of the Festival is available at www.conradfestival.pl.

All films will be shown with Polish subtitles. Das Schloss will be shown with Polish and English subtitles.

THE PROGRAMME INLCUDES:

A CYCLE OF PAUL AUSTER’S FILMS

SMOKE
dir. Wayne Wang, Paul Auster, USA 1995, 112’ Berlin International Film Festival 1995 - the Jury Grand Prix
On the corner of 16th Street and Prospect Park West is a cigar store. Auggie, the owner, has a passion that is weird in the 20th century and would be considered art in the 21st century. He takes a photo of his shop every day. This place becomes the only permanent feature of the landscape that provides the background to lives of protagonists – a writer in mourning, suffering from the writer’s block, a boy rejected by his father and a woman looking for her daughter. It is the first film by Paul Auster that made him well-known to the mass audience.

BLUE IN THE FACE
dir. Paul Auster, Wayne Wang, Harvey Wang, USA 1995, 83’
On the corner of 16th Street and Prospect Park West there is still a cigar store. Its owner is planning to transform his business into a health food store. But in fact not much has changed there even though the film was made with much more gusto. In the sequel of the cult Smoke Auster is trying to portray the whole Brooklyn borough and its residents. The film features such stars as Madonna, Lou Reed or Jim Jarmusch.

LULU ON THE BRIDGE
dir. Paul Auster, USA 1998, 103’
Izzy has a typical New Your lifestyle. He is a saxophonist and plays jazz standards in a night club. One day he is accidentally shot and his life becomes less typical from then on. He finds a corpse of a stranger, meets a beautiful actress and comes into possession of a magic stone. He starts having less-than-typical problems with men with weapons.

THE INNER LIFE OF MARTIN FROST
dir. Paul Auster, USA 2007, 94’
Martin Frost wants to be alone in order to write a new novel. Yet he is not. He finds a beautiful and admirably intelligent woman in his bed. It is the finding that many men would dream of but not necessarily the ones that seek solitude. When Martin Frost finally appreciates having such a special company, he begins to suspect that perhaps he is alone after all. Such an ideal may be only a figment of his imagination. A real merry-go-round of solitude and mysteries. The film starring Irène Jacob and David Thewlis.

KAFKA ON THE SCREEN

DAS SCHLOSS | THE CASTLE
dir. Michael Haneke, Germany/Austria 1997, 123’
Michael Haneke, called sometimes a contemporary Bergman, is not necessarily famous for making films on light topics. No wonder that he decided to adapt an unfinished novel by Franz Kafka. It is the adaptation so faithful that it finishes in mid-sentence, just like the book did. The only difference is that the film adaptation is even gloomier and grimmer than the book. Organizers wish to thank the Austrian Cultural Forum in Warsaw for lending the Polish translation to the film Das Schloss.

FRANZ KAFKA – SHORT FILMS
(duration: 104’) BYT | THE FLAT
dir. Jan Švankmajer, Czech Republic 1968, 13’
A story of a man imprisoned in a malevolent flat where everything seems to work against the laws of nature. A story of human solitude, seclusion and the life that is violently disturbed by another human being.

ZAHRADA| THE GARDEN
dir. Jan Švankmajer, Czech Republic 1968, 17’
Frank visits his friend Josef who introduces his wife Mary to him and shows his pure-bred rabbits. Yet the man is more interested in a disturbing fact that the fence of the couple’s garden is made of people holding hands.

FRANZ KAFKA
dir. Piotr Dumała, Poland 1991, 16’ Krakow Film Festival – the Bronze Dragon in the category of animated films
An animated film presenting a few episodes from the life of Franz Kafka, distinguished Austrian writer.

KAFKA
dir. Zbigniew Rybczyński, France 1992, 62’
A film labyrinth in which Kafka’s works are placed one next to another. Characters from his works are transformed one into another and all of them are Franz Kafka at the same time. Characters from his prose become people from Kafka’s biography. The film’s action is confined to a few rooms which are subject to continuous transformations.

CHILDREN’S LITERARY LAMBS:

THE ADVENTURES OF KOZIOŁEK MATOŁEK – a set of children’s films, duration about 40’
The protagonist - Koziołek Matołek – looks for a legendary Pacanow where – as they say – ‘goats are shoed’. In his quest he reaches different corners of the earth, experiencing many dramatic and funny adventures. Koziołek Matołek is a character created by Kornel Makuszyński (story) and Marian Walentynowicz (drawings) and the protagonist of one of the first comic strips for children in Poland.

DER KLEINE KÖNIG MACIUS – DER FILM | KING MATT THE FIRST
dir. Sandor Jesse, Lutz Stützner, France/Germany/Poland 2007, 83’
An animated film for children that shows a story of Matt who is to start the reign in his country just before his eighth birthday. The boy wants to make all children happy and grant them the right to decide about themselves. However, when he gives them obligations of adults, the world turns upside down and evil General stands in the way to fulfilling children’s dreams. King Matt the First is one of the most beautiful Polish stories, a moving novel by Janusz Korczak, a distinguished doctor, teacher and writer. The story of a boy who became a king won hearts of readers – kids and adults alike – all over the world. Artistic workshops will be conducted by Anna Karlińska, a graduate of Garden Art at the University of Agriculture, garden designer, florist and visual artist.